EDUCATION

More than 40 per cent of NSW school
students nominate ’no religion’: new data (Brisbane Times) July 24 - More than 40 per cent of the 795,000 students in NSW’s public
schools do not list any religion on their enrolment form, according to new data
that comes as parents and teachers push for an overhaul of the strict rules
that leave students with "dead time" if they do not attend scripture.

INTERNATIONAL
STORIES

Abuse

Paedophile priest to be released from
prison (news.com.au) July 27 - A FORMER priest who was one of the most notorious figures in the
Boston clergy sex-abuse scandal will be released this week, after serving 12
years in prison for raping a Sunday school student.

Catholic
Church

Vatican turns off historic fountains amid
Rome drought (The Guardian,
Australia) July 24 - Vatican authorities have turned off 100 fountains, including two
Baroque masterpieces in St. Peter’s Square, due to a prolonged drought
affecting the tiny city state and the city of Rome, which surrounds it.

Islam

Author canned for Islam ’abuse’ (The Australian) July 24 - Richard Dawkins is embroiled in a free speech row after a radio
station dropped him over ’hurtful’ Islam comments.

Scout leader call for sharia law (The Australian) July 24 - Indonesia’s government suspended support for the Boy Scouts after
its chairman expressed support for Hizb-ut Tahrir.

More than 100 hardline Jewish settlers
occupy house in Hebron (The
Guardian, Australia) July 26 - About 120 hardline Jewish settlers have occupied a house in the old
city of Hebron, citing Israel’s handling of the crisis over the Haram
al-Sharif/Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem that has sparked days of violence.

How we can defeat ISIS 2.0 (The Australian) July 26 – (Opinion: Roger Boyes) As Islamic State morphs from caliphate to
crime syndicate, the West must shift its fight.

Right-wing Catholics targeted (The Australian) July 30 – (Opinion: Gerard Henderson) Socially conservative Catholics have been
the subject of sneering regularly on the ABC and in Fairfax Media publications.